Part 3: What I learned from this year

Barcelona, Catalonia

Actually, I have long owed part 3 of my series "What I learned from my trip". Now I'm sitting here at my desk in Barcelona with a glass of red wine and reflecting on my past year one day before my 34th birthday, as I do every time. So I think the new title is more appropriate and I want to share with you what I learned from last year.

Health is above all

November 2020, the pandemic had us firmly in its grip. After months in lockdowns, I founded my own company and ventured out on my own, despite or perhaps because of the global Corona crisis. It was just the logical next step for me after all those years of going back and forth in companies, looking for my way, and realizing while traveling the world that I just had to try. Otherwise, I would blame myself all my life for not having dared. In retrospect, I sometimes wonder how I managed it all. Corona turned our whole world upside down from one day to the next. People suddenly questioned their ways of working and living and nothing was the same. I have never been so sure as I was then that I would make it. How exactly, I did not know at the beginning. But there was one thing I knew only too well: how a crisis can change your entire life. I experienced this myself with an illness six years ago now. It changed me, today I can say for the better. I asked myself all the questions that people were now asking years ago. Nothing can knock me down so quickly as long as I am healthy. Because what is really more important than health, we have learned in the last year.

Go your own way

I took advantage of the Corona time and invested in business plan, strategy, website, continuing education, etc. I went out with it and showed myself to the world. Sure, I often pondered whether I could make enough money with it to live on and find customers for what I was offering. But deep down, I was so damn sure that this was the right way to go. A year later, I can say that I can make a good living from it and manage my time the way I want. I can work from anywhere, regardless of location, and I've created this incredible freedom that I've wanted my whole life. I truly believe that the universe is always sending us signs and helping us exactly when we authentically follow our heart. People and situations come into our lives that help us move forward and support us on our path. Why? Because energy flows exactly where we put our focus. People feel that.

Incredible freedom

After another failed relationship, I put my focus on work for now. Of course, despite my vocation, it's also just work and things have to get done. You don't have to kid yourself about that. But still, being self-employed gives me the freedom to live my life the way I want. I'm incredibly proud of that. So in February 2021, I again took the plunge and went abroad. I already wrote in detail about my yoga retreat in Suryalila, Andalusia in the blog post before last and also about my first time in Barcelona. What a life-changing journey to myself.

Another week at a yoga retreat in Tuscany with Eva and two weeks at home followed. With me in the luggage was a thought that would not let me go. Shortly before leaving Barcelona, I got an offer from a colleague to rent her apartment in Barcelona for a few months. It didn't take long and this idea took shape. I sorted out a few things at home and just knew it was the right thing to do right now. While in Tuscany, I also drew a card called "Serendipity" that would stay with me throughout the week. Serendipity means the inner readiness to seize a favorable opportunity. The knowledge of synchronicity, signs and symbols as messengers of luck and the magical connections of events.

My lucky coincidence

So I ended up back in Barcelona and have been living in the lively Gracia district for just under six months now. I work remotely for my agency and clients in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and travel back and forth for business meetings or to visit friends and family. How long I will stay, I don't know yet. But a particularly fortunate coincidence might keep me longer than planned. In fact, an interesting message in my card said that I was almost certain that a serendipity would bring a turn for the better. Perhaps the person I had given my heart to seemed to be the "right one" - and yet this bubble burst. I was to remember that sometimes synchronicity and serendipity team up to teach me an important lesson to learn BEFORE I could hit the jackpot. I should not get stuck in the drama of disappointment, but pay attention to the signs that show themselves to me.

Watch the signs

Wow, I was surprised! It really fit well with my current situation. I was so grateful for all the love I felt in my communities in Andalusia and Tuscany. Yet, I was missing the romantic love that we all need. I didn't want to be in a relationship just for the sake of it anymore. I was content and happy with myself and only wanted to take this step if it was really the greatest thing for me. I created a new home for myself in Barcelona, got lots of visits from home and friends, traveled back and forth in the summer and was generally very active. New city, new people, a few dates, lots of work, more sports, padel without end, Spanish course - the completely normal madness had me back. Sometimes slightly overwhelmed, but also somehow arrived at myself.

"Watch out for the signs!", I heard my thoughts whisper now and then. Then, when I least expected it, they were suddenly there. All the signs that it really was the very greatest. Not dressed up by any stretch of the imagination, but completely sweaty, Argentine Agustín and I crossed paths one Friday evening at a padel tournament. It wasn't until the end of the tournament that we played against each other and I probably made him laugh with a casual stop-lob attempt. That's when it happened to me, that feeling, I was blown away. Of course, I had already noticed him out of the corner of my eye when we arrived on his e-scooter, but then forgot about him again during the tournament. As luck would have it, however, he asked me for another game and we drove back to the city together in the car with his friend. Fate took its course, we exchanged numbers and played our first tournament together including a dinner date the next day. Since then we are almost inseparable and a happy couple. Everything happened very quickly, but when it fits, I have never been someone who hesitated for long. Getting to know Agustín was one of the most beautiful things I have experienced this year. I believe again that true love really exists. The crazy thing about life is that you live it forward, but you only understand it backwards! Now I finally know why it took so long.